Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad returned to form after smashing an unbeaten 74 runs off 60 balls. His knock helped the Yellow Brigade post 158/7 from 20 overs, leading to a steady team recovery after initially falling on the back foot.
After being asked to bat first, Chennai Super Kings found themselves in trouble at 37/4 in the ninth over and further slumped to 96/5 in the 16th over.
However, a 59-run fifth-wicket partnership between Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dub helped CSK post a respectable total of 158/7 later on.
Ruturaj Gaikwad joins the elite list
During the match against Gujarat Titans, Ruturaj Gaikwad joined the elite list of batsmen. He became only the fourth batsman to hit 100 sixes in the IPL. MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Shivam Dube are the other CSK players to have done it.
Dhoni has hit 234 sixes for the five-time champions so far, Suresh Raina has finished with a career high of 180 for CSK and Shivam Dube has hit 105 sixes so far.
The 29-year-old joined Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2020 season and since then has only played for the Yellow Brigade.
He enjoyed a stellar IPL 2021 season in which he scored 635 runs from 16 matches and won the Orange Cap award.
Overall, the Maharashtra cricketer played 79 matches in the IPL and scored 2680 runs at a strike rate of 136.24, hitting 21 fifties and two centuries.
Gaikwad was appointed as the captain of Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2024 IPL season, taking over from MS Dhoni.
However, Gaikwad was ruled out midway through the IPL 2025 season due to an elbow injury and Dhoni resumed the captaincy of CSK for the rest of the season.
Chennai Super Kings are currently in fifth place with six points from seven matches and come into the GT game after a dominant win over Mumbai Indians (MI).
